Stepping up: Leeds Firefighters participate in 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb

Published 4:03 pm Wednesday, September 11, 2019

By Danny Moore

Leeds Workout Anytime held the 9/11 memorial stair climb challenge on Wednesday, September 11 starting at 8:46 a.m., the same time the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

Owner Steven Elliot also organized a raffle ticket fundraiser to benefit the Leeds Fire Department.

Leeds Fire Department joined owner Elliot and participants in the stair climb. Participants did not need a gym membership and could sign up and do the challenge for free. The goal was to reach 110 flights (2,071 steps) of stairs on an elliptical step machine, the same amount of floors responders completed during the Sept. 11, 2001 rescue mission.

Some participants faired well, while others caved in to exhaustion and soreness.

Miranda Kubela, who participated despite a bad rotator cuff, still succeeded. She finished 110 flights of stairs under 45 minutes. Immediately after, she went on Facebook Live encouraging people to come to the gym and participate in the challenge.

Lieutenant Josh Davis of the Leeds Fire Department said he remembers seven years ago when he was in New York City doing the stair challenge. He also mentioned that the step challenge is a very big event in New York City and most people do actual flights there.

Chris Tipton, a Leeds firefighter and a daily exerciser said he did “rolling hills”. He even surpassed the recommended number by doing a total of 125 flights under 30 minutes. However, Tipton, like his other fellow firefighters, were not dressed in full uniform, just shorts and shirt.

There were two firefighters who showed up to the gym wearing their full uniform. They were off duty at the time, but decided to go all out in uniform.

Lieutenant Josh Davis said, “Josh Rossetti and Chase Armstrong, both enjoyed the entire experience. Both of them did the full 110 floors in 31 minutes.”

The Leeds Workout Anytime is located at 7480 Parkway Dr. in Leeds. For more information, call 205-702-2789 or www.workoutanytime.com/leeds.

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